603- It's not a number, it's a state of mind!

MUAY THAI
So I went to the Muay Thai boxing class for the first time yesterday and almost fainted. Damn, that IS some hardcore sh****t! Of course I'm going back and regularly, I definitely need it. Man, I am so out of shape. I was pretty much done after the warm up run, and after the punching/kicking drills.......damn, well at least it's normal to feel like that. The website is: www.thaiboxingcenter.com

THE BEACH
It was great to see the beach last weekend. I didn't get the chance to surf, bummer, but next time for sure. The waves looked awesome though.

THE CHINESE AND CITY
It seems that Costa Rica has quite a lot of Chinese folks, esp. in San Jose. They seem to own a lot of convenience stores. And Chinese food is only a call or walk away, hmmmmm.

AIESEC
The AIESEC party on Wednesday was cool, I met a whole bunch of new ppl, Ticos and trainees. It seems like this is a time when most of the trainees are leaving or arriving so it´ll be easier when some more new ppl come. They live right near the calle Amargura which is the main street of pubs and clubs. I danced to Reggaeton for the first time. I think they had a good laugh. In the clubs they play dance music like Reggaeton, salsa, merengue, cumbia......I have a lot to learn.

603
http://istanbul603.blogspot.com The blog us Istanbul trainees set up to keep ppl up to date on the latest. Almost everyone has returned home so we've been sharing our stories and news. I really miss everyone there and we had such a cool group of people, that's hard to find. I know in time I'll build a good group of friends but I miss having a bunch of ppl around that I know and know me well.

To the 603 spirit...
Cheers

Settling in my Simple and Fun Life

Everything is good so far. I've contacted the AIESEC here and they have quite a large membership (60 or so people) and six trainees. Next week I'll be meeting them. It's so great to have contact with a group of travellers from all over the world that are more or less your age. I never would have thought that the benefits of being in AIESEC would still continue after I was done my traineeship.

The area in which I live is great, close to supermarkets, San Pedro (the university and party ghetto) and not too far from downtown San Jose. Next week, I'm going to start taking Muay Thai, this Thai boxing martial arts. I should be in good shape in no time for all the water sports and hikes. This weekend I'm going to Jaco beach, a popular party and surf town, and will try surfing for the first time!!!!!!! I'm psyched!!

Another thing which is bizarre here is that they stopped selling cell phones until October. Apparently, all the lines are full or something so until they can build some more towers, they won't sell cell phones. Since I don't have a phone at home, that leaves me with my work number and emails.

Life is simple.

Fresh faced in Costa Rica

So it's been almost a week since I've arrived and I am settling in nicely. Here's the DL on my first week:

HOUSING
I live with a man who works at DNI (Defensa de los Ninos)as a lawyer. The area is outside the San Jose district but close to downtown and San Pedro (the university and party ghetto). My room is a good size and I have my own bathroom. There's lots of freedom and space, so I'm happy with it.

WORK
I really like where I'm working. It's about 20 people who work here. I'm the only intern right now but there's been a few others before me. The job itself, is great. Turns out, I'm much more of a computer geek than I thought. It's so refreshing and a relief to actually like my job. I think this is the first I actually enjoyed what I was doing. The people are great and it's a relaxed environment. And I have all the resources I could want: fast Internet, webcam, microphone, speakers, CDROM, DVD and burner and all the software I could want. It's pretty sweet. I'm turning out to be a pretty good web desinger:)

WEATHER
Okay, it's the rainy season here and so it basically rains for a few hours everyday. But I really don't mind it. It's relaxing and usually occurs in the afternoon.

THE CITY
From what I've seen so far, which is not too much, I am liking the city. There are palm trees everywhere and lots of green. It's about 1 million if you include the greater San Jose area. I live in an area called Sabanilla. The nightlife is supposed to be really great but I haven't gone out yet. The best part is that San Jose is only a few hours away from the coast. I'll be going there as often as I can.

BIZZARE
Well the most bizarre thing is that outside the San Jose district, streets don't have names and houses do not have numbers. It's so weird. So people describe locations based on landmarks. I've gotten lost three times this week, three days in a row. It sucks, and I couldn't even describe where i wanted to go because I'm not familiar with the landmarks, ugh! Apparently, it's like this all over CR.

So far I am liking this very much and it's only going to get better!! If anyone knows people in San Jose, please forward their email addresses to me and if anyone wants to come visit, let's do it!!

Ciao
Ooooo today is Canada Day--HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!